Saturday, and the weather stays glorious: we seem to be having a real Indian Summer. The canal periodically closes in and the hedgerows are turning golden, and heavy with hawthorn berries, blackberries, rosehips and sloes: we really are in the season of mists and mellow whatsit-ness.

Turning off the Leicester section into the Welford Arm, and creeping through the narrow cut we arrived at Welford Lock. Not a very deep lock, but the first that several hire-boaters out of Market Harborough had had to work themselves, so a queue and chaos reigned.

Once sorted and up, the short section into Welford Basin and marina is the highest pound of all the parts of the Grand Union Canal system, at 421 feet above sea level. With space to moor up, a pub on the wharf called (shock, horror!) The Wharf Inn offering reasonable food, and lots of gliders whizzing around, this seemed like a good spot to stop for the night.